


Sleep Tight

by LizAnn_5869



Series: Life, Or What Happens When You're Busy Making Other Plans [8]
Category: Broadchurch
Genre: Alec bonding with Fred, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Family fluffiness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-14
Updated: 2015-07-14
Packaged: 2018-04-09 09:19:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4342907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LizAnn_5869/pseuds/LizAnn_5869
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Alec makes a bit of a change.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sleep Tight

**Author's Note:**

> This was written while I was fighting with Chapter 3 of "Home." I imagine this to come not long after they have moved into their house, and school has started again.

It was just before Fred's bedtime when Alec finally got home from dealing with paperwork and meetings involved in closing the robbery cases that had morphed into a robbery/ arson case that had been plaguing businesses all along the coast. Alec was glad that when the perps hit the Newsagents they hadn't started setting fires yet. One fire had burned a half a city block in Stonebridge. It had involved multiple police departments, a lot of driving around and some late nights that left him worn out. It wasn't the emotional exhaustion of a murder investigation, but it left him physically drained. He'd been getting home late and missing Fred's bedtime too often. 

Alec heard voices coming from Fred's room, and he found two of his most important people snuggled up in the big rocking chair. Fred was snuggled in Ellie's arms and she was reading "Goodnight Moon" to him. It was Fred's latest book obsession. "Hi, love," Alec said, kissing Ellie softly. "Hi there, lad, how are you?" Fred let go of the lock of his mummy's hair that he was twisting around his finger sleepily and reached for Alec. 

"Awec's home," Fred sighed.

"How'd it go today?" Ellie asked. Alec sat down on the ottoman. He rolled his eyes. Fred crawled into his arms, and Alec kissed the top of his head. 

"I've been on a drivin' tour up and down the bloody coast. But I think we have it all sewn up. I think we'll get a conviction. I hope, anyway. Gonna make my token protest now..."

"I'll think about it! That's the best you're gettin',". Ellie said, knowing exactly what Alec would argue.

"I need a DS I can count on. Warren's eager but he's a bloody idiot. Just...think about it. One of these days...soon, I hope...Warren will move on. Jenkinson asks me if you're ready to come back about once a week, you know."

She shook her head. "Don't get excited. I'll think about it. I want to work with you again. I do. It's not out of the question.....just not yet."

"That's fine....I want to work with you again, too. We're a good team, Miller."

She smiled at this impossible man she loved with all her heart. She cupped his cheek and leaned forward to kiss him. "We're a good team with many things." They kissed until Fred wriggled in Alec's lap. "Here, little man. Let me get you in bed."

"Awec do it," Fred protested sleepily.

"I'll do it. I've had too many late nights, getting home after he's gone to bed. Then I'll get a shower."

Ellie kissed her son, then her love, and said, "'Night, sweetie. Say your prayers. I'll check in on you in a bit." Then she left Alec and Fred alone. He carried the boy to his bed, tucked Fred in with with his well loved Tigger (he called him Tee) and kissed him. He listened to Fred say his prayers and like always, his thoughts drifted to Daisy at that age. He was thankful to have a second chance with her, and a chance to be a dad to Ellie's boys. Fred's eyes were already heavy. He kissed Fred again and said, "Love you." and tiptoed out. He heard Fred mumble "Love you too" as he left.

After he closed Fred's door he sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. He was absolutely knackered, the beard was out of control and he wanted to wash off the day. He ran his hand over his beard again- it really was a bit out of control. Looking at his reflection in the bathroom mirror, he suddenly realized how bedraggled he looked. 

*********

Ellie helped Tom with math homework, got out some leftovers to heat up for Alec, made tea and was emptying the dishwasher in the time it took for Alec to come back downstairs. Her back was to the kitchen door. "Well that took forever! Supper's getting cold...." He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist and began nuzzling her neck. He started kissing her neck, and it felt lovely, it really did....

Wait.

It felt lovely, but different. She pivoted around to look at him. "Oh!" she squeaked in surprise. 

Alec stood there in his sweats and t shirt. Clean shaven, and beginning to look a bit hurt by her reaction.

"What?"

"I'm just surprised, is all. I've never seen you without your beard!"

"Was tired of lookin' like I'd been dragged through a hedge backwards. I never used to have one, y'know. I just started growin' it when Sandbrook started and I didn't have time and felt like shit all the time." She caressed his cheek. "It reminded me a little too much of those days when I wasn't taking care of myself. You know, when I wasn't there for Daisy. ". Ellie smiled. She understood. "You don't like it, though."

"I love you, beard or no beard. And you're always here for us, so don't worry about that." She put her arms around his neck. "Having said that, I will miss the beard on my neck when you're kissing it," she whispered the last part in his ear. Tom was still at the kitchen table, after all. Alec's eyes widened. 

"Didn't realize it was such a turn on," he whispered back, and then they both could feel Tom's eyes boring into them. She snickered. Tom cleared his throat. He picked up his book and headed out of the kitchen. Ellie was shaking with laughter.

"Damned parents and their public displays of affection," she commented.

"Well, now that he's gone upstairs I'd like to check on something." He tilted his head and began gently sucking on the join of her neck and shoulder. Ellie immediately decided that while she missed the burn of his beard, his lips brought a lot to the party. And then she wasn't thinking much at all. 

"This workin' for you, El?" he murmured in a delicious low growl.

She laughed breathlessly. He backed her up against the counter and began a slow exploration of her throat. "Working just fine," she confirmed, still a bit giddy. 

"Then after both the kids are asleep...." His hands slipped gently under her t-shirt, ghosting along her ribs. (Discovering that Alec Hardy was very touchy-feely had been one of the happier moments of their relationship thus far.)

"If you feel up to it," she smirked. 

"Oh, I'll be." 

She started to respond to that, just as her body was already starting to respond to the promise of activities later, when they were throughly interrupted by a small voice behind them. She opened her eyes to see her small curly haired son clutching his Tee and rubbing his eyes. 

Tom rocketed down the stairs after him. "Forgot my notebook, and then I saw him tryin' to escape." 

"Mumma, " he whined. She was beginning to think the transition to the big boy bed had been a mistake. She really didn't have much time to think about it because Alec turned to face Fred.

Fred's bottom lip went wobbly, then his face crumpled, and he started crying loudly. 

"Hey, mate, what's wrong?" Alec asked. 

A confused, sleepy Fred answered tearfully, "Not Awec!" and retreated to the safety of Tom's legs.

Ellie was gobsmacked, as was Alec. "Of course it's Alec!" the ever logical Tom declared. 

"Not Awec!" Fred asserted. Alec looked like he just couldn't win. 

"All he did was shave!" Tom added, and it most certainly did not help the situation. Alec knelt down to Fred's eye level. 

"It's me, mate. It's Alec." He hesitantly extended a hand to the little boy.

"Not my Awec," Fred muttered. He clung to Tom's legs a little tighter. Tom looked exasperated. A thought crossed Ellie's mind, a memory she hadn't thought of in years.

"You did the same thing, Tom. Remember Grandad? He shaved his moustache when Tom was eighteen months old. They were great pals. You don't remember, Tom, but you screamed bloody murder and wouldn't go near him for two weeks."

That didn't cheer Alec up at all. Or Fred. There was now an impasse in the kitchen. Finally Tom grumbled, "It's just hair, Fred, it'll grow back!" He scooped up Fred, who protested loudly, and tried to deposit him in Alec's arms, and Fred was having none of it. He extended little arms to Ellie.

"Tom, don't be so impatient with him!" Ellie admonished.

"I got homework!"

"Well, go do it, I got this!" 

Alec was amazed that one simple act of shaving could cause so much turmoil. Tom left the room in a huff.

It took a few minutes for Fred to raise up his head from Ellie's shoulder, and then another before Fred would actually look at Alec. Ellie really wanted to giggle but she saw that it really did look like Alec was hurt.

"Oh, he'll come 'round, love. You know." 

Alec did know. But Fred was his wee best mate in the house. If Tom was being a teenager and Daisy didn't have time for Dad, and Ellie wanted to throw something at him, he could at least count on his Fred. It was just one more thing piled on top of an exhausting day. But he kept on, giving Fred a smile and talking to him quietly. Fred yawned hugely and rubbed his eyes.

"You really need to be in bed, little man. Can you give Alec a squeeze and we'll go up?" Ellie asked. Fred shook his head.

"Awec do it," he said so softly they almost missed his words. Ellie smiled and kissed Alec on the cheek, passing off the little boy to Alec. Alec accepted him gratefully.

"We'll go try this again, awright?" He grinned at Ellie and carried him upstairs.

********

It was a couple of hours later when Ellie woke with a start on the sofa. All was quiet upstairs. She hadn't realized how much time had passed since Alec took Fred upstairs. She got up stiffly and stretched, yawning. It would be another one of those "wake up and go to bed" nights, she supposed. And likely there wouldn't be any follow up on that experimental neck kissing from earlier. She went upstairs, then up the attic steps. Tom's light was still on.

"Night, sweetie, don't stay up too late," she called. 

"Night, Mum." 

Her next stop was her younger son's room. She stopped in the doorway, taking in the scene. It would never get old for her, watching those two together. 

Alec was stretched out as much as he could on Fred's big boy bed (and how he managed that baffled Ellie) next to Fred, who was also sound asleep, bottom sticking up in the air, like always. Fred's "Very Hungry Caterpillar" book was on the bed, a couple of Elephant and Piggie books on the floor. It looked as though Fred had managed to talk Alec into three books before finally dozing off. She knew it didn't take much convincing. She had discovered that not only did Alec love to read to Fred, he liked doing the voices. (Daisy recommended listening when Fred was old enough to hear Harry Potter, since Alec's Hagrid was not to be missed.) 

She briefly thought if she did decide to go back to the CID, she'd be the only one in the room who knew  
how much a little toddler boy had their gruff and grumpy DI wrapped around his pinky. (And also how DI Hardy's Eeyore voice sounded when he read Pooh Bear to Fred.) 

Ellie walked as silently as she could to Fred's bedside. She lightly stroked Alec's clean shaven cheek. He jerked a bit and opened his eyes blearily. He eyed his watch and groaned quietly as he sat up. "Didn't mean to doze off," he whispered. 

"I don't know you managed it as tall as you are, so you must be exhausted." 

"Aye." He stood up gingerly. Both of them watched Fred, who snuffled in his sleep and rolled to his side but didn't wake. 

"Think he's finally out. Let's get some sleep, love." She took his hand they sneaked out of Fred's room into the hall. They both looked in at the sleeping boy through the doorway, then Ellie closed Fred's door. Together they entered their room. Alec sat down heavily on the bed.

"I've decided the next time I shave, he's comin' with me," Alec yawned. "Probably gonna grow it back a little bit so it'll be a while." He rubbed his cheek absently. 

Ellie laughed. "Yeah, I'd prepare him first." He scooted back against the headboard and Ellie lay down beside him, her head on his chest. He kissed the top of her head. "He had a little too much change all at once, I think."

"How do you think the kids are doin' with moving and all the change?" Alec had been wondering for a while.

"Really, I think Tom's less anxious. He really wanted to get out of the house too. Fred's happy, he likes the house and the yard and you're here. You're a big part of both of them feelin' secure, you know."

"I love 'em both." They were a big part of him feeling secure, he realized. 

Ellie sat up and cupped his cheek. She kissed him softly. Alec wrapped an arm around her and pulled her more fully to him and she thought the experimental neck kissing might get a follow up after all.

Until Alec broke off the kiss with a huge yawn. Ellie giggled. 'S'cuse me," Alec mumbled.

"Get some sleep, Hardy," she snickered. "You can sleep in and then tomorrow....."

"Well, if I'm in the mood... " he muttered as he smuggled into his pillow, eyes already closed.

Ellie snorted. She stroked his hair and he hummed happily. "Love you, y' knob." He didn't answer, as he had already dozed off. She turned out the light and it wasn't long before she joined him in sleep.

******

Bright and early (and 6:15 was too bloody early on a Saturday), Alec woke to the sensation of someone repeatedly patting his cheek. As Ellie was buried under the covers next to him he felt fairly certain it wasn't her. He opened one eye and raised that eyebrow, and the little curly haired person attacking his face giggled gleefully. "Awec face," he giggled.

"Oh, so it's funny in the light of day, is it?" Alec whispered. "And how are you so wide awake? Shhh...Mumma's asleep, mate." Fred started to try to climb into their bed, grunting with exertion until Alec reached over and helped him up on the bed. Alec saw that he had two of his Cars characters clutched in one chubby fist. Fred sat criss cross between Alec and Ellie and offered his little Lightning McQueen to Alec, who of course, took it.

Ellie, who had wakened when her little boy jostled her and the bed when he sat down between them, stayed quiet, listening to Fred murmuring about "Wy-min' A-ween" and Alec's patient responses. 

Ellie found herself falling in love with Alec over and over again on any given day. Today was no different. She snuggled at little deeper into her pillow and drifted off again to the soft voices of two of the three most important men in her life having a very serious conversation about sentient race cars.

**Author's Note:**

> Extreme fluffiness, sorry! The idea of having Hardy shave and Fred freak out about it comes directly from two of my cousins, who as young kids, flipped when their dads shaved. I think Hardy does grow the beard back- not out of control, but grows it back because I can't imagine a clean shaven Hardy for some reason (even though he was in Sandbrook) and so Ellie can get her bearded neck kissing. ;)


End file.
